Quote

 

Its a two horse race now, and one of the horses is still in its mothers womb while the other is doing a victory lap.

Hahahaha!
This guy is comedy gold!

LM are going to lose a lot of 'testers' (read: us, individual hobby simmers) for P3D. However, their commercial licence is going to retain the vast majority of it's value, with their military contracts and whatever else offered in the civil training arena.


Asobo / Microsoft probably won't set up a stand at FSExpo as it would be swamped by all attendees. It would also massivley overshadow everything that 3PDs will be selling / promoting for current sims.

A presentation might happen with some new in-game footage and a Q&A session, but nearly everyone going to FSExpo, or on this site, or on r/flightsim, or one of the MSFS Facebook groups, are almost certain to buy MSFS upon its release.
The big volume sales that Asobo and MS are hoping for, will be partially generated by E3 attendees and livestream viewers.
 

1 hour ago, mSparks said:

...while the other is doing a victory lap.

With the nose wheel flopping around and they can't steer. 

14 hours ago, pmb said:

I recall even shy LM was at an earlier FSExpo (or its predecessor) with a (pale) guy participating in a panel discussion.

That was the predecessor held several years ago at Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, CT. I drove there from the Chicago area two days going and returning, plus two days at the event, five nights in a hotel, plus tolls, gas, food and miscellaneous other expenses. It cost me a total of ~$1600 US for the 'adventure.'

Did I enjoy myself? You bet! Would I do it again? No way...

The only other such gathering I attended was at the final AVSIM Conference held in Wichita, KS. I flew there on Southwest roundtrip. Two nights in a hotel and the plane tickets totaled $320 US. The main reason I went was to meet and mingle with many people I'd been on-line friends with for many years. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Far more than I did a few years later at the Bradley Intl. Apt. event.

LM was a considerable contributor at FSExpo19. I had the good fortune of meeting a couple of their guys. Of course they have a large corporate engineering center in Orlando, 

I wasn't hugely thrilled about the Expo though. I've seen much of what was there at SNF. 

A reminder. Please do not discuss P3D licensing. If you do your post will go poof. 

If you want to see LM really bring it to a conference, go to I/ITSEC.  That's the big industry modelling, simulation and training conference held every winter down in Orlando.  I used to really enjoy making that trip back when I was in the Pentagon managing the USAF's simulation programming and budgeting.  It's a real trip to wonderland...lots of really stunning cutting-edge stuff that only the big players can afford mixed in with smaller-scale offerings like P3D.

 

To be honest, i don't care about FS Expo in the least. i don't think it gives visibility to things beyond those already informed for a good part, and while Microsoft is indeed a giant it doesn't mean they should show up there just because they have the money and people to do so. Besides that, our hobby takes people from all over the world and our mean of learning things is internet. That is why we follow blogs, sites, forums, newsletters and so on. THAT is the way of getting information about what we care about. The only thing a real meeting would be nice for would be to meet some people face to face, but boy do Avsim users scares me 😄 😄

I am much more interested in them being at E3 and keeping up with the strategy of making new people interested in our hobby.

22 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

No reason why they can't do both. Microsoft are not exactly short of money, and a presence at FSExpo would do a lot to show that they are interested in the flight simulation community, and not just the "whizz bang crash wallop" XBox crowd.

This implies that so far, they've only appealed to the "whizz bang crash wallop" community...?

A bunch of french dudes narrating videos about aerodynamics and soundscapes is basically tailor made for the Call of Duty crowd, I agree.

You need understand common public is a real opportunity for us.

 

If Microsoft invested in this market it is precisely to make it less elitist and more public. 

And we can very well have this general public without sacrificing anything to realism and the flight model.

With an accompaniment such as checklists and a co-pilot it's quite feasible.

As in the reality where the first vfr diploma is within everyone's reach, the only barrier is money.

So this contempt for the E3 or the general public is ridiculous.

To remain compartmentalized between well-informed simmers is to remain in a niche market with a ridiculous budget and therefore with graphics of an outdated age.

There is no contempt for E3 or the general public on my part. I have enjoyed playing lots of first person shooters in the past, and would do so again if the right games appeared. However, I do think that a presence at FSExpo (and Cosford) would be very welcome, even if it was for no other reason than to talk face to face with members of the hardcore flight simulation community.

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

There is no contempt for E3 or the general public on my part. I have enjoyed playing lots of first person shooters in the past, and would do so again if the right games appeared. However, I do think that a presence at FSExpo (and Cosford) would be very welcome, even if it was for no other reason than to talk face to face with members of the hardcore flight simulation community.

Chris, I think MS are much more likely to show up at Cosford, because luckily for Cosford FS show, October could well be the beginning of the Launch build up for MSFS. The amount of interest, indeed over excitement towards MS/Asobo will be a sight to behold (i'd be one of them), all at the expense of the other exhibitors, although surely the event would sell out. 

Asobo I suspect will be at E3 they were already developing games for the games console when MS approached them for MSFS, and they will what the XBOX version to be as fully functional and optimised as possible and not dumbed down like some here think, that`s the market they are used to million of users who unlike flight simmers are not put off by subscription software, and if you are a third party Dev the chance to be in a multi million user shop window, how do free games end up being a billion dollar franchise.   

1 hour ago, rjfry said:

Asobo I suspect will be at E3 they were already developing games for the games console when MS approached them for MSFS, and they will what the XBOX version to be as fully functional and optimised as possible and not dumbed down like some here think, that`s the market they are used to million of users who unlike flight simmers are not put off by subscription software, and if you are a third party Dev the chance to be in a multi million user shop window, how do free games end up being a billion dollar franchise.   

E3 is not a console exclusive event 🙂 They are not focusing on console users for now, there is a healthy PC games market to tap into as well.

On 1/21/2020 at 7:30 AM, aleex said:

The thing is. Does MS need FSExpo, or FSExpo needs MS?

FSExpo should realize the have a greater chance of increasing their attendance base by hosting a few members of the MFS team with covering travel and accommodations. Theres a huge PR opportunity there with working a co-op on release etc. 

6 minutes ago, Ident said:

FSExpo should realize the have a greater chance of increasing their attendance base by hosting a few members of the MFS team with covering travel and accommodations. Theres a huge PR opportunity there with working a co-op on release etc. 

PR for MSFS that's already done most here will buy it tomorrow whatever state it`s in they don't need to sell it to the flight sim community.

But they do need the gamers on board if possible for future development (cash).